Much of the controversy surrounding Showtime's provocative new gay
soap, Queer as Folk, has centered on the character of Brian, a
29-year-old sexual predator who, in Sunday's season premiere (10
pm/ET), seduces a 17-year-old virgin and then discards him like a dirty
Kleenex. But it was going to take a lot more than a little statutory rape
to scare unknown actor Gale Harold out of taking the role. "Let's be
honest, people are breaking the law in every way, in every state, at
every second," Gale tells TV Guide Online, "and it's only a small
percentage of people who are getting prosecuted for those crimes or
even apprehended by the authorities. My point of view on taking this job
is that I'm interested in real work... and it's just something that happens.
It's not like we're making it up or doing it to try and say, 'Look at this!
Freak out! Feel uncomfortable!' It's a real experience, it's something that
goes on. And if people are not aware of it, then it's for a variety of
reasons that I can't really be worried about."

Another thing not keeping Harold up nights is concern about Brian being
too unsympathetic in the audience's eyes. "I think it would be
counterproductive to try and make apologies for Brian in the early
stages, because that would compromise his arc as a character," he says.
"You don't want to redeem him early because then what's left to do? But
I don't think there's any question in my mind that he has redeeming
qualities, but those will be revealed to the viewers in time.

"That's one of the great things about the script," he adds, "it doesn't
make any apologies. There's no obvious attempts to make him okay to
balance out what he's doing that people recoil from, and that's good
writing. The integrity of the character is intact -- it's not being
compromised."

Harold -- who believes everyone has a little Brian in them, but "they just
don't want to admit it" -- has thus far declined to discuss his own sexual
orientation in the press. (Randy Harrison, who plays his high school
conquest Justin, has admitted he's gay, as has co-star Peter Paige.) "It's
not that I'm refusing to say anything, it's that I don't have any interest in
talking about things that I feel are irrelevant," he explains. "For me, it's
just about the job and maintaining the character."